Dan Cekander

Brazil, the biggest sugar and coffee grower, had the driest January in six decades, scorching crops. Arctic-like cold is projected for the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. at the end of the month, boosting demand for natural gas.

U.S. corn supplies, the world’s biggest, are dropping at the fastest pace in 17 years as drought damage exceeds government forecasts and five months of declining prices spur demand from livestock producers.

Three consecutive years of smaller U.S. corn harvests are driving inventories of the world’s most-consumed grain to a 39-year low and spurring Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to predict that prices will rise near record highs.